Microsoft Ignite: Here's What We Learned at the Keynote

Last year was the year of "mobile-first, cloud-first computing." This year is the year of "digital transformation." While the exact nature of digital transformation is still lacking specifics, the term ushered in the general theme of Ignite 2016: IT professionals and users, your world is changing and here's how.

Lisa Schmeiser

September 26, 2016

12 Min Read
Microsoft Ignite: Here's What We Learned at the Keynote
Richard Hay

Last year was the year of "mobile-first, cloud-first computing." This year is the year of "digital transformation." While the exact nature of digital transformation is still lacking specifics, the term ushered in the general theme of Ignite 2016: IT professionals and users, your world is changing and here's how. The keynote hit two themes repeatedly: The IT work is shifting to the cloud, whether or you like it or not, and since Microsoft has a vast cloud infrastructure, they're your best friend for your own digital transformation.

There were a few big announcements -- Microsoft Azure will be replacing AWS as Adobe's cloud provider of choice, there are new security features meant to head off threats at their source, Microsoft continues to advance machine learning and integrate it into their Office suite as well as their admin tools.

But a substantial percentage of the keynote was devoted to videos and customer testimonials showing that change was not scary when Microsoft took the wheel. It was a consistent message for IT pros: there are roles for you in the cloud, and here they are.

Three of us -- Richard Hay, Michael Morisy and I -- were at the morning keynote. Below, our you-were-there accounts for the events of the morning. We may have thrown in a ringer re-tweet or two at the end for you too.

 

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